Saturday, April 06, 2013

UPA and the not so Jolly Frolics

There
has been a lot of mystic built around United Pictures of America, better known
as UPA, in animation history.Books
like “When Magoo Flew: The Rise and Fall of Animation Studio UPA” by Adam
Abraham have shed some light on the politics and cultural environment that
created the studio and touched on it’s transforming influence of what animation
could be outside the Disney mold.

UPA’s
bold graphic approach certainly had its impact on television commercials and
theatrical shorts.It definitely
influences my work as an artist, too.Now, just recently I’ve had a chance to watch Turner Classic Movies
three-disc set of 38 theatrical cartoons “UPA Jolly Frolics DVD” from my local
library.

Unfortunately
I found only a handful of the 38 films to be any good.There seemed to be more ugly garish poorly
animated unfunny boring cartoons than not.Even so the six or seven gems may be reason enough to understand the
reputation and trans formative power the studio produced within the animation
industry.

Of
the 38 films my favorites were:“Gerald
McBoing Boing”, “The Ragtime Bear”, “The Oompahs”, “Madeline”, and "Rooty Toot Toot".I kind of liked “The Unicorn in the Garden” which was from a James Thurber story and mirrored his drawing style, and “Robin Hoodlum” just because it was an unexpectedly funny fox and crow
cartoon.